Image © Jose & MidJourney
Saw Luisa at our Sunday Honk gathering, if you want to know more about my Sunday social (musical) experiments, follow this link https://medium.com/@zemanel/social-musical-experiments-a6b618005520. At the end, saying goodbye, the typical “how are you”, and she made a bunch of noises, shook her head, smiled, made faces and said “kinda, need to make some changes in my life”. I also expressed something personal, without saying too much, just enough for both our eyes to meet, talk through them, smile. Luisa and I tend to always say things like this to each other, never “great” or even “fine”, there is always some density and deeper reflection embedded in the answers, which sometimes are not even articulated through sounds. I don’t think people are the kind to say to others what’s going on in their lives, I think people have some people that they feel Ok articulating what’s really going on, these are somehow in our life for different reasons. I might have an adult ‘don’t go there’ crush on Luisa, but in general these people are not necessarily friends, and I make no gender distinction, these next level people just grow on you. If we are all onions, these people can reach your next level layers, this means they also may be entitled to cry for you, with you, from time to time.
I wonder if this act of exposure is a part of our etiquette, or if what is going on in our lives demands exposure and access by others, connectivity, proximity. Basically, is there something going on in our lives that demands we find out next level people to share what’s going on, do we always have something going on in our lives and therefor there is always a good excuse to look for it, or do these people trigger in us a predisposition for next level conversations, do we always and secretly desire these people show interest, engage, listen, tell us what is going on in their lives. If we are all a permanently ‘under construction’ sort of Sagrada Familia, where a previous version of ourselves left behind a loose set of plans and here we are trying to get to a better, final version of ourselves, then we will always have a reason to talk about the journey, the obstacles, the challenges, the frustration of not knowing what the plan were in the first place. If true, then it’s not anymore if this is real, it’s more about who do we choose to share our reality with. If these are touch and go moments, where we grant to some a brief peak into our next level life, I wonder why we do this, is there some sort of end goal of all we want is just a warm moment of connection, that could be mistaken by social porn.
We do love, and need, the “real” stuff of doing this for a longer period, with time and loss of time, with all the other gestures and dances that come with longer exposure, connection. This is precious, and rare, this is not a granted reality to many people, for a number of reasons, though we all deserve it. When we sit, touch each other as we access the levels we are invited into, share the journey of what is going on, experience the art of listening and speaking, it is truly special. But I also value these sort of passing by, next level, light, touch and go moments that tell us we are not alone, beyond friends and family, there are others we grant access to our nest level, and they do the same, even if for a brief glimpse.